The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it may be described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present technology.
Renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly important. Various benefits can be obtained when waste heat is captured and converted into a form of usable energy. Secondary waste heat or low-grade heat (generally less than 150° C.) is abundant and often available as discharged heat from vehicles, HVAC systems, manufacturing/industrial facilities, power plants, and even from geothermal applications. Often, however, conventional thermal energy collecting and storage systems may not work well when used with low-grade heat, and this abundant resource is not able to be utilized to its potential. Thermo-electrochemical cells have been proposed for converting thermal energy into electrical energy by having temperature gradients across electrodes of the cell. However, the energy conversion efficiency of such devices has generally been limited by the speed of ion transport as dictated by current designs, availability of materials, costs, and thermodynamic principles.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a further optimized conversion of waste or low-grade thermal energy into electricity that, for example, is capable of providing enhanced vehicle ranges, higher efficiencies, and driving distance per unit energy. With respect to hybrid electric and fuel cell powered vehicles, for example, it would be desirable to have a thermo-electrochemical cell system to provide additional electrical power that may be required during increasingly longer drive periods commensurate with improved vehicle ranges.